Cheesy Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

This cheesy pasta with tomato cream sauce is weeknight comfort at its finest.

This is going to sound extremely strange coming from a food blogger who screams the virtues of COOKING FROM SCRATCH! AT HOME! from her rooftop (perhaps literally – sorry neighbors), but weeknight cooking makes me cringe.

I mean, those nights when you come home from work later than intended and still want to go to the gym and get your life together and eat dinner before midnight.

IT’S HARD.

And I don’t even have kids.

I try to do most of my cooking on the weekend because that just seems like the easiest way to deal, but no matter how many meals I prepare ahead of time, by the time the middle of the week rolls around I find myself back in the kitchen racing against the clock to make something edible before my favorite 7:45PM Zumba class.

#thestruggleisreal.

THEN I stumbled across this new pasta favorite recipe from Annie’s Eats and, I don’t know. It makes life easier.

Sweet and caramelized roasted tomatoes mixed into a pot of quick baked cheesy pasta comfort. I am down for that any day.

The roasted tomatoes do take some time in the oven but (a) you can make them ahead of time (like during that weekend prep we were talking about) or (b) you can throw them in the oven when you set the water to boil and take them out whenever you’re ready to toss them into the pot before its final bake. Mayyyybbbbeeee they won’t have roasted for the full 30-40 minutes, but they’ll still be fabulous. I can attest to it.

This cheesy pasta with tomato cream sauce is weeknight comfort at its finest.

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the oven roasted tomatoes

1 pint tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

salt, to taste

2 tsp sugar

For the pasta

1 lb gemelli

1 (28 oz.) can peeled whole tomatoes, with juices

1 tbsp. butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

½ tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tbsp. tomato paste

½ tsp. kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

5 oz baby kale

8 oz mozzarella, cubed

¼ cup heavy cream

Minced fresh basil, to finish

Instructions

Heat oven to 350F.

Toss the tomatoes, olive oil, a pinch of salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes, turning once halfway through.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instructions, until al dente. Drain well.

Raise oven temperature to 400F.

Put the canned tomatoes in a food processor or blender and pulse until mostly smooth.

In a Dutch oven, heat the butter until melted. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, tomato paste, salt, and black pepper. Cook until garlic is fragrant and tomato paste starts to brown, about 1 minute. Pour in the blended tomatoes and baby kale and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 6-8 minutes, until thickened. Season to taste with salt and black pepper and stir in the cream.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cooked pasta, mozzarella, and oven roasted tomatoes. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Serve topped with the basil.

pasta to the rescue yet again – I want to experiment with the stuff but I have a child and a husband who want the same old same old – wonder if I could sneak this by them dressed up as the same old same old tomato sauce – looks great

I’m with you on the weeknight cooking. I do it because I sort of have to, but it’s become WAY harder since we moved and have less time. This looks creamy and cheesy and pretty much perfect for any day of the week.

This pasta sounds fantastic! Quick and simple definitely works for me, foodblogger cred notwithstanding. The whole busy weeknight phenomenon is what makes me stock my freezer with all the soup and curry in the land…and hearty pasta dishes like this too!

This certainly does look like great comfort food. I think it’s great that you’re so super-organised you can get your cooking done on the weekend. I have a couple of nights a week where I come home after 7pm and it’s always good to have a meal ready prepared. Tonight is one of those nights and we’re also having pasta! xx

I hear ya girl on coming home on a weeknight wanting something ASAP! And you’re right, no matter how much I cook over the weekends, it’s never enough! This pasta looks like the perfect nourishment after Zumba. And ugh, it’s been far too long since I’ve gone to a Zumba class! I need my Reggaeton fix!!!

weeknight cooking IS hard. we moved, and now my commute is just a teensy bit longer but it seriously makes a big difference in my desire to cook on weeknights. looks like a great pasta dish…pasta is definitely my weeknight dinner go-to. 🙂

Um yes, well I thought I knew what I was making for dinner and now I’ve changed my mind. It will definitely be this. I just got some fresh tomatoes from the farm. I’m going to try it out with coconut milk instead of heavy cream, coconut oil instead of butter and maybe a decadent cashew cheese. I’ll let you know how it goes!

This dish looks amazing, Joanne! I know what you mean about weeknight cooking — leisurely weekend cooking is so much easier. This dish is the perfect warm weather comfort food — filling, but still light 🙂

OK seriously the struggle IS real! I do not think that most humans who work are able to actually cook from scratch on a daily basis. And no matter how many blog articles I read that say “perfect for a busy wednesday night” no. just no. But I WILL look into making this on a weekend. It looks so awesome and includes my favorite food groups of carbs and cheese. YUM 🙂